Thursday, 24 February 2022

Ivanhoe East planning

Dr BACH (Eastern Metropolitan) (1782)

Incorporated pursuant to order of Council of 7 September 2021:

My adjournment matter tonight concerns planning matters in Ivanhoe East that many of my constituents are very concerned about. The action I seek is for the Minister for Planning to meet with my constituents in order to understand their grievances.

My office has received numerous pieces of correspondence from residents over the planning process regarding the 6293-square-metre site at 321 Lower Heidelberg Road. Their concerns are not just about the impact they believe this project will have on their community. Indeed, they are primarily about a process that they view as highly unusual and deeply flawed.

Initially, this project went through the usual processes and assessments that councils and governments have laboriously established over many decades of reform: processes and assessments that seek to balance the need for new development with community concerns. It is safe to say that this is a very delicate balance.

As a result of these initial processes I am advised that this project was rejected by Banyule City Council on 10 grounds. Yet the project is now being considered through a different mechanism—something that has been noted in correspondence to me with great concern.

My constituents feel they have been locked out of these processes and discussions. The local lower house member, Mr Carbines, should be advocating on their behalf to his Labor Party colleague—the minister.

In the absence of any action from him, I will certainly seek to fill the void.

The concerns of my constituents regarding this significant project are genuine, and deserve to be heard, respected, and responded to in full. Thus, I call on the Minister for Planning to meet and engage with my constituents.